Aspen Medical Practice is pleased to announce that we have joined over 70 practices nationally in working towards improving our environmental sustainability. As a practice we feel we can no longer ignore the wider impact of climate change on the health of the population we serve, or the role that healthcare provision plays in contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

We have recently achieved the Green Impact Bronze Award for our efforts in reducing the environmental impacts in several different areas within the practice. Green Impact is the framework for making primary care more sustainable by implementing meaningful changes to make a difference. We’ve been using this to assess both our current position and to give a roadmap to future changes, from small actions that nudge behaviour, to more comprehensive (and expensive) infrastructure changes. Although there are over 20 specific measures to achieve, they can roughly be divided in to five areas:

• Use and disposal of paper
• Management of medication (recycling inhalers and – where possible – moving to more environmentally friendly ones, addressing excess medication)
• Energy use (both reducing demand, and thinking about where the energy comes from in terms of supply)
• Empowering patients to self-care for more conditions through use of social prescribing/treatment escalation plans and personal management plans for chronic conditions
• Efficient waste disposal

Our aim is to continue to implement these changes that will both benefit the practice and the environment. The Silver, Gold & Carbon awards are yet to be achieved with each award marking our improvement in environmental sustainability.

We are excited to be part of this initiative, and hope that you agree it is a worthwhile endeavour. If you have any questions about this, or ideas of your own for how we could improve, then please let us know.

Complete the Cycle Scheme

Complete the Cycle is the first national recycling and recovery scheme for respiratory inhalers. We want to reduce waste and greenhouse gases by moving towards a more environmentally sustainable treatment of respiratory disease.

For more information, please read our leaflet.